Thunder is rumbling through the night sky. Scott, Stiles and Liam are on their way home in Stiles' jeep, which trots through the woods before it suddenly decides to die again. The old thing has been struggling for a while now. Stiles curses under his breath, getting out of the vehicle and opening the hood of the car. Scott follows.
The clouds are thick; coloured a deep blackish. There even seems to be a green glow over them as Liam looks at them through his window. Hell is going to break loose soon, he's sure.
"Do you have any tools?" Scott asks, looking at the tape covered engine.
Stiles gives him a look, holding up another roll of duct tape. Scott snickers.
Suddenly the sky lights up with a quick flash. A bit startled, all of three of them look up, but while Scott and Stiles move their attention back to fixing the jeep, Liam sees how the lightning strikes the road behind them. It collides with the ground, leaving bright sparks for a moment. He turns back to the front window. "Guys?" he asks, worried.
"Adults are talking, Liam," Stiles replies with a roll of his eyes.
"Yeah, Liam, just stay in the car, okay?" Scott adds.
The younger one sighs in response, crossing his arms in front of his chest. His thumb starts rubbing across the sleeve of his hoody comfortingly.
"I don't know what his problem is," Stiles sighs when they've averted their attention back to rummaging in the engine.
"What do you mean?" Scott wants to know, head tilted in confusion.
"Don't you think he's been acting weird, lately?" Stiles says. "It's almost like there's something he's not telling us."
"You got that from him saying 'guys'?" Scott frowns.
"No. No, of course not. I'm not psychic. He was acting weird a couple of weeks ago, too. Jumpy or something. You know.
Scott shrugs a little. "I don't know. I haven't noticed anything."
Stiles rests his hands on the hood of the car, catching Scott's gaze. "Yeah, well, I talked to Mason and apparently there's some girl in Liam's class; Hayden. Did he tell you about her?"
Scott shakes his head.
"They've known each other for a couple of years. Mason said Liam did her wrong somewhere back then and apparently she's still blaming him for that; bullying him, even."
"What did he do to her?" Scott asks, facial expression shifting into fear, the boy knowing about Liam's Explosive Disorder.
"Mason didn't want to tell me. He didn't find it 'his place to go', whatever the hell that means," Stiles explains, voice thick with annoyance.
"Have you talked to him about it?"
Stiles glances away for a moment. "No. You know I hate confrontation. I suck at it. I prefer to ignore problems until they just…go away."
Without warning, another shard of lightning surges through the sky; the thunder following immediately. Both boys look up for a moment.
"You want me to talk to him?" Scott asks when the noise has died down.
Stiles exhales a sigh of relief. "Yes, please."
Scott smiles, patting his friend on the shoulder. Just then, the front lights of the car suddenly ignite and the engine roars to life. A little surprised, Stiles looks down before he realizes beggars can't be choosers and he decides not to question fate.
"Can we go now?" Liam asks. He has poked his upper body through the window.
Stiles rolls his eyes. "Yes, we can go. Stop being so impatient."
Scott snickers again, settling himself back into the passenger's seat. A few seconds later, rain starts to pour from the sky. It's hitting the roof of the jeep with so much ferocity that it's creating a white noise. Scott and Stiles usually find it comforting, unlike Liam.
"So how's school?" Scott decides to open the conversation after a while.
No response comes, so Scott turns around, giving Liam an expectant look. The boy blinks, taking out his headphones.
"Huh? What? Me?" he asks, pointing at himself. "What was the question?"
"I asked you how school has been for you," Scott repeats.
Liam frowns a little. "It's fine."
"Yeah? Do you like your new classes?"
"Sure."
Scott nods, granting him a lopsided smile that makes Liam look away awkwardly. "What?"
"Nothing," Scott shrugs. "Is there anything you might want to tell us?"
Liam raises his shoulders lightly, rubbing his upper arm. He hides deeper into his hoodie as the night sky ignites again. The look on his face is guilty and he still doesn't look at Scott when he answers, "No…"
"Okay," Scott replies. "But know that you always can, yeah?"
Liam nods, scratching the fake leather on the backseat before he puts his headphones back in.
Scott turns back around, shifting his eyes towards Stiles, who is just shaking his head and looking at him with clear judgment on his face.
"Nice job, Sherlock," he mumbles under his breath.
Scott blushes a little. "He'll tell us when he's ready. He's probably embarrassed."
Stiles nods, tapping his long fingers on the steering wheel nervously. "Yeah, sure," he sighs, but it doesn't sound very convincing.
A week later, the pack is having a meeting during lunch break, and Mason's there as well. Liam has told him about the supernatural side of Beacon Hills and he's excited to say the least.
"So, Kira's a kitsune. Malia is a werecoyote and Lydia is a banshee," he summarizes again as they cross the school's parking lot.
Liam rolls his eyes, sighing deeply. "Yes."
"Awesome," Mason says. "And a kitsune is a…fox, right?"
"Yup."
Mason nods, a bright grin on his face. "Man, all of this stuff is just mind blowing."
If Mason had been a werewolf he could've smelled the annoyance dripping off of Liam. But Mason isn't. Fortunately, Scott is, which is why he gives Liam an examining look when he and Mason join him and Stiles behind one of the yellow buses. Scott frowns.
"Are you okay?" he asks his beta.
"I'm fine," Liam answers sternly.
Stiles looks at him weirdly. "Weren't you wearing jeans this morning?"
Liam shoves his hands into the pockets of his training shorts, shrugging. He decides not to answer the rhetorical question.
He also doesn't have to, because before he knows what's going on, Mason's already spilling, "Hayden put gum on his seat during History, so he had to change."
Stiles raises his eyebrows in amusement, smirking. "Did she?"
Liam kicks the pavement in annoyance. "It's whatever."
Scott tilts his head. "Don't worry about it, no one will notice," he assures.
"But what could you possibly have done that would make her hate you so much?" Stiles asks, finally taking the opportunity to question him.
Liam's eyes flick up. "What? How do you know I've done something?"
Beside him, Mason's taking small steps backwards. His eyes have widened and he glances at Liam from their corners.
It takes his friend only a second before it all clicks together and he fiercely turns around. "You," he grumbles.
"This was a great meeting, thanks for having me, gotta go," Mason rambles before taking off. Liam attempts to follow him, but Stiles' grip on his shoulder is strong.
"No, no. You haven't answered my question yet," he reminds him, still smirking as he retrieves his hand.
There's a low grumbling in the back of Liam's throat. His gaze shifts to Scott, who is just giving him this innocent look. He's shaking his head, telling Liam he's not going to help him.
Liam's cheeks fill with air for a moment before he releases it. "It's whatever, okay? She's just weird," he says, jamming his hands back into his pockets.
"Is she the reason you've been acting so weird lately?" Stiles continues.
Liam shrugs. "Maybe."
"Why won't you just tell us?" Scott wants to know.
"Because…!" Liam says in a whiny voice, rocking himself from his tiptoes to the balls of his heels.
"Has she pulled more stuff like this on you?" Stiles interrogates; the tone in his voice sounds demanding.
Liam shrugs again, looking down guiltily. The pavement suddenly proves to be very interesting. "Nah."
"What kind of answer is 'nah'?" Stiles responds.
"Look, can we just talk about something else?"
That's when Scott decides to end the uncomfortable situation. "Sure," he answers. Stiles gapes at him with clear disappointment, but Scott shakes his head, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "We have an uncontrollable werewolf with night terrors on our hands anyway," he reminds his best friend.
Stiles purses his lips right before he caves. "Fine," he admits. "Let's focus on that."
Scott shows him a grateful smile.
"You've gotta let it go, man," he says afterwards, when he and Stiles are on their way to Biology. "He doesn't have to tell us everything."
"I just hate to be in the dark," Stiles explains. "I need to know so that I can stop worrying."
Scott's face lights up a little at that. "It's sweet that you're worrying about him."
"Yeah? Well, it's not so great. I hate it," Stiles mumbles.
"He'll come to us, I promise," Scott assures him.
Stiles sighs as they enter the classroom. Scott sympathizes, deciding to cheer him up a little. "Hey, how about tonight I stay over? We can play videogames or something." He sits down on the front row.
Stiles takes the seat next to him, throwing him a thankful look. "Sure. Fine," he confirms. "But only if I can have the wireless controller."
Scott chuckles. "Deal."
After that, the teacher announces class is starting. She walks around the room, handing out the students' latest test results.
"Nice to see where your priorities are, Scott," she says as she hands him the form. There's a circled '86' on it, written in red, and Scott grins sheepishly.
Stiles smiles proudly. "Nice job," he comments.
"Since you have such a good grasp of the subject," the teacher continues, "how about you lead us into a review of last night's reading?"
Scott looks up, a little surprised. "Err, yeah, sure," he answers, though he sounds hesitant.
He starts looking for the right page when something in the corner of his eye catches his attention. He glances up sneakily, surprised to see Liam's there waving at him. He looks pretty startled.
Scott glances at Stiles, who has his mouth opened a little, rubbing his face in annoyance.
"Now he wants to talk," he mumbles under his breath sarcastically.
"Scott?", the teacher interrupts them.
Liam rolls his eyes, hurriedly motioning for Scott and Stiles to come over. Scott shakes his head slightly, frowning at him. Liam pouts, catching his bottom lip between his teeth desperately. Again, he motions.
Usually Scott would've tapped his ear so Liam would know he's using his werewolf hearing, but there's no way he can read out loud and listen to the boy at the same time. He feels bad for it, but as it turns out Liam has to wait.
So the boy leaves a couple of seconds later, a mixture of disappointment and annoyance dripping off of him. Scott has started reading, and in the meantime Stiles is secretly looking something up on his phone.
When Scott has finally finished, he turns to his best friend. "What class is he in right now?" he whispers.
Stiles taps on the screen of his phone a couple of times more before sighing. "History."
"Didn't you say Hayden's in that class as well?"
"Yup."
Scott scratches his neck. "Well, we can't leave now," he says. "This is the only teacher that doesn't think I'm a failure."
"I know, I know," Stiles whispers. He reeks of anxiety, so Scott squeezes his knee.
"Calm down. We'll talk to him later," he reminds him. "It's okay."
Stiles nods, blinking rapidly.
As soon as the bell rings, the boys hurriedly get up and leave the classroom. With quickened paces, they move through the hallways, to one of the History classrooms. They just about catch Hayden walking out of the door. Stiles steps forward, attempting to call her out on her ridiculous behaviour, but Scott's already sticking out his arm in front of his chest.
Then Liam comes out, giving the two an upset look.
Scott immediately starts apologizing, "Sorry, we couldn't leave."
But Stiles doesn't care about that. "What did she do now?"
Liam frowns at the other. "What do you mean?" he asks, following Stiles' line of sight, just about catching Hayden before she walks around a corner. "Who? Hayden? Nothing."
Stiles' head falls forward. "What do you mean, nothing? You came to us for help, didn't you?" He's wildly gesturing with his hands as he usually does when he's nervously trying to understand something.
"Yeah…" Liam answers bluntly, before he realizes what's going on. His face falls, jaw dropping a little. His eyes falls to the floor. "Oh…"
"What is it?!" Stiles hisses impatiently. He feels like he's about to burst out of his skin.
Liam sighs, knowing there's no way he's going to get out of it now. "I haven't been acting weird because of Hayden," he explains, voice low.
Stiles and Scott glance at each other, both frowning deeply.
"Then why have you been?" Scott asks with a gentle voice.
Liam looks up. The usual strong lines in his face have softened, making him look even younger. "It's a bit embarrassing to tell now," he mutters, looking a bit hopeless. He shuffles with his feet.
"For the love of God, just tell us what's going on!" Stiles now finally exclaims.
Liam's eyes widen, rubbing his upper arm. Scott gives Stiles a judgmental look.
"I… I, err…" Liam mumbles, catching the boys' attention again. He looks around himself fearfully, checking if anyone else can hear him. Scott and Stiles inch forward, the latter licking his dried lips in anticipation. Liam opens his mouth and closes it a couple of times. Scott can feel the hairs of his arms have straightened up and Stiles wants to rip his own insides out from anticipation.
"I'm afraid of thunder…" Liam then admits. The other two can barely hear what he's saying, that's how softly the words are leaving his lips. They linger in the air for a moment and Scott and Stiles both need a second to process them.
"You're scared of thunder?" Stiles repeats in astonishment.
Liam nods, pressing his lips into a thin line. "Yeah…and when I was in class I heard someone in the hallway listening to the radio. They're announcing a code red for the weather tonight. They say a thunderstorm is coming, so I freaked out and decided to tell you guys, but then you couldn't come out of class and I panicked," he tells them. "Please don't laugh."
Scott exhales a deep breath, smiling down at Liam. "We won't," he assures him. "We're just glad it isn't something bad. We thought you had done something terrible to Hayden."
Liam blinks at them. "What? No!" he exclaims. "That's not why I was acting weird! Sure, she's not being particularly nice to me right now, but only because I kissed her in sixth grade and then broke up with her." He scoffs. "Did you really think that was bothering me?"
"Then why didn't you just tell us that?!" Stiles fires up again.
"Because I thought you were talking about this!" Liam defends himself. "And it's pretty embarrassing, so I wasn't ready yet. Don't you remember last week in the car? I was so eager to leave because it was thundering!"
Scott shakes his head and Stiles facepalms himself. "Oh my God," the latter boy mutters.
Scott chuckles. "We're the worst," he says to his friend. "We totally misinterpreted everything."
Stiles rubs his face. "Unbelievable."
It stays quiet for a moment while the two recover from the realization. Liam's still stood awkwardly in front of them. "Yeah, but…what are we gonna do about the storm….?" He whispers a minute later.
"Please, it's just a storm," Stiles brushes it off. "You'll be fine."
"Didn't you see how close that lightning struck though, last week? It nearly hit us!" Liam says. "Besides, it's Beacon Hills. It's probably some supernatural creature that's shooting it and trying to kill us."
The left corner of Scott's lip curls up. He puts a comforting hand on Liam's shoulder. "I'm staying over at Stiles' tonight. You can come too if you want?"
Liam nods silently, face still soft. "Thank you," he voices his sincere gratitude.
Stiles scratches the back of his head. "I still can't believe we were so wrong."
Scott and Liam chuckle.
That night, thick clouds roll over Beacon Hills, covering the sky entirely. Liam's staring up at them from Stiles' bedroom window, feeling threatened to say the least. The wind is howling around the house, pushing against the bricks and windows. It's past 1am and the boys have already turned off the lights and the TV half an hour ago, all ready for bed.
They've put Stiles' mattress on the floor, next to the one they borrowed from the guest room. There are several blankets and pillows on them and all three boys are dressed in sweatpants and long sleeved shirts. Except for Liam; he's wearing one of his usual hoodies.
"I think it's going to start soon," he announces, fear covering his words like a thick wintery coat.
Stiles and Scott share a look; both have already lay down. "Step away from the window, then," Stiles says.
"Yeah, come here," Scott joins in, patting the free spot between them.
Liam nods, turning around. He grabs one of the pillows and holds it tightly against his chest as he lies back down. Scott and Stiles look at him in awe, both of their noses scrunched up.
"It's gonna be okay," Scott says softly.
"Yeah, man, you're totally safe here."
"Not if it's a thunder kitsune, like Kira," Liam mumbles bitterly.
"They can't shoot lightning," Scott says. "They can only absorb it." He doesn't know if that's actually true, but at least it sounds reassuring.
Meanwhile Stiles is already making a mental note to be on a hilltop with Kira during the next thunderstorm, wanting to test that theory.
The first raindrops start falling from the clouds, hitting the window. Seconds later, the white
noise has started again; water hitting the earth more forcefully.
Then the first flash lights up the room and Liam utters a short groan, moving the pillow over his mouth. Scott counts the thunder, which starts rumbling four seconds later, and he can't help but mumble it is close.
His words earn him a look from Stiles; one he can't see because of the darkness in the room, but he can make out the contours of his raised head behind Liam.
"Really, Scott?" he says.
He turns to Liam. "It's fine, dude."
The younger one nods hastily. "It's just so loud," he whispers.
Stiles nods understandingly, ruffling his hair.
"Sorry," Scott says, shuffling a little closer with his blanket.
After that, silence covers the room. Scott can hear Liam's heart thumping against his ribcage and decides the silence isn't very beneficial.
"So what kind of stuff did Hayden do to you?" he attempts to distract his beta.
Liam shrugs a little. "Apart from ruining my jeans by putting chewing gum on my butt, nothing much. Just a few snarky comments," he answers.
"Girl can hold a grudge, huh?" Stiles comments.
"Yup," Liam mumbles. "I don't get it. It was in sixth grade! How can she still be upset about that?"
"Maybe it just meant a lot to her?" Scott offers.
"Yeah, apparently," Liam sighs.
The room lights up again and this time the thunder follows immediately. As it rumbles, Liam's memory take him back to last week, when the lightning had struck right before his eyes. He shrinks in on himself.
Scott notices this, and in response he pokes his arm out from under the covers and splays it across Liam's stomach, rubbing the fabric of his hoodie right above his abdomen. Stiles decides to imitate the gesture, resting his hand on the pillow that's on Liam's chest.
Liam settles down a little from that, his breathing sounding less ragged. "Thank you," he mutters after a while, "for not laughing and all."
"Don't worry about it," Stiles responds.
"I told you, you can tell us anything," Scott smiles. "We'd never make fun of you."
"You do sometimes, though," Liam snickers.
"Only when you're being really stupid," Stiles doesn't hesitate to reply.
Liam grins. "Like that time when I fell in a hole?"
"That was pretty stupid, yeah."
Scott snickers too, shaking his head a little.
Liam closes his eyes, focusing in on the comforting touches Scott and Stiles are granting him. The thunder rumbles for an hour or so, and every time, Liam shivers a little when the lightning flashes. When it has finally died down, Scott and Stiles have moved closer to his sides and Liam finds himself in a warm embrace. He sighs, listening to their quiet snoring for a bit before he turns his head against Scott's chest. The pillow that was against his chest gets tossed towards his feet, causing Stiles' hand to fall near Liam's heart. He takes it thankfully; grabbing Stiles' upper arm, holding onto it gently.
A smile spreads around his lips, realizing that he can, indeed, tell them anything.